My first memory of guitar was seeing my father play one.

Joe Bonamassa

Categorized in : Memory Father Play Guitar

Sometimes you have to blame yourself before you can blame others.

yourself you blame sometimes

It's not enough to play a song: you have to inhabit it.

you enough play song

I've always been a big fan of taking old songs and completely turning them on their head. Having no adherence to the fine tradition of the original version. Rearranging them and taking a different approach to them.

old-songs old always tradition

If we got into a time machine and went back to the 1700s, classical and baroque music would have been the equivalent of Beyonce and Jay-Z.

machine back music time

The blues, the way it's interpreted, is always a product of your environment, and so it's almost like food. You know, it's like you use the ingredients, and you use your life experiences that you have.

you food life way

I'm not one of those people that has to share personal experiences. That's not really the kind of writer I am. I'm a very private person to begin with.

person i-am personal people

The fact that I tour religiously in the spring, religiously in the fall, and do 125 shows - you can set your watch to that. And you could have set your watch to that in 2000 or 1999, and you can set your watch to it in 2012.

your you spring fall

I dislike all those cookie-cutter Nashville songs. You know the ones: about tight jeans and pick-up trucks.

know you jeans dislike

You often see lifestyle over substance in L.A. Some rock stars dress up like they're going to play a gig when they're just going to the 7-Eleven store on a Tuesday night.

dress you stars night

I have a 1969 Grammer Johnny Cash acoustic guitar, and it's so inspirational.

acoustic cash guitar inspirational

The thing people forget about Kevin Shirley a lot of the time is that he's not only a great producer, he's also a world-class engineer. He really knows how to get a sound.

great time forget people

When you go into a situation, and you're honest and straight-up about something, you put all your cards on the table.

your you situation cards

Basically, 2011 was the hardest year on the road for me because I did a spring tour and a fall tour plus nine weeks in the summer, and I was pretty worse for wear by the time I got home in December. I know I was only 34, but that was a tough lap.

road me home time

Greece is so beautiful and inspiring.

greece inspiring beautiful

Greece was a muse. It inspired creativity in magical ways that I can't even begin to understand or explain.

explain understand muse creativity

If I feel like things are getting into a routine, I want them to be different. I need to keep improving and keep moving forward.

be-different feel moving-forward want

When you think blues, you think BB King. Even a young kid can look at a picture of BB King and say, 'the blues.' The man is more than a musician. He's a monument.

king look you man

At the end of the day, you, as the player, create the tone coming out of the amp. The gear is part of it but by no means all of it.

end-of-the-day end day you

I used to watch MTV when they played music, and discovered Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey.

ray watch music used

I am the poster boy for brick-by-brick foundation building. Play a club. Put on a good show for 35 people. Come back. Build your market. Have people talk about you.

i-am good you people